Hello! New chappie! Flames will be used to warm up LOFAF. :)

Karkat decided to try to play it cool. Wherever the portal had sent them, it had to be some kind of...different dimension? Universe? Maybe in the past of John's Earth…? Who the fuck knew. They'd have to find out-they had to get back. That is, once they found out what universe they were in, when on the Alpha timeline they were at, if the life-forms here were aggressive, what kind of technology they had-

"Lad?"

The troll startled. He had gotten lost in thought, in a potentially dangerous environment. That couldn't happen again.

"Yeah, what."

"Yeh seemed rather..shocked..abou' yer location, lad. An' wha's yer name? I canno' keep on callin' yeh 'lad'. An' I'm Hagrid." The GMP said.

Karkat took a moment to work through the accent, then replied, "I'm Karkat. And why I was shocked was none of your damn business." Karkat paused, his eyes paused on no particular point.

"...and then if this is the real Earth, then we can somehow save it! But it probably isn't, though…" The human took a breath, "Also, I'm hungry!"

Karkat looked up at the newly-dubbed Hagrid. "...but I would appreciate if I could get something to eat." He continued grudgingly. He wasn't particularly hungry, but human's ate more often the trolls-John need to eat.

Hagrid eyed the gray-skinned being. It was rather harsh and curt, but that might've been because it was in an unfamiliar environment. It seemed frustrated, and kept looking around, as if for threats, and then looking to its abdomen. The half-giant filed that away for later. For now, it seemed as if it needed his help. "Fer sure, Karka'. Come on in. I've got lots of things to eat…" And then, in the morning, he could take this 'Karkat' creature to the headmaster. He would need to know.

John quieted down as Karkat walked into 'Hagrid''s small house. Well, at least John thought it was a house, that's what 'hive' meant, right? Yeah. He was pretty sure. Relaxing a bit more into the warm flesh behind him, the human looked at his wounds. The rainbow light had faded, and new skin could be seen. It didn't itch anymore. That meant he could move!

He stood up, and attempted to walk. He tripped on the first step. Karkat's belly was a bit too unstable to walk on. Considering this, John dropped to all fours and successfully was able to move about his space. He couldn't see much, but he would explore anyway!

Karkat could feel John moving around-it was good that he had healed, but it was a bit distracting. Karkat mentally shook off his worry and payed attention to Hagrid. He would need to know as much as possible.

"So, I've go' tea cakes an' beans an' beef…" The purple-blood lookalike glanced toward Karkat's sharp teeth, "an' a few other meats as well…"

As much as Karkat would have like to have all meat, this meal wasn't just for him. John, as a human, needed carbohydrates to survive. Such facts in his head, Karkat asked, "Do you have any bread, too?"

The hut's owner looked a bit startled by the question, but to his credit, just said, "Yeah, I go' some bread. Bread an' beef, then?"

"That's fine. But not a lot. I don't need a lot." The last thing Karkat wanted to do was bury John in food. Hagrid gave him a strange look, but the troll ignored it. Keeping John safe was more important than what this bearded guy thought of him.

HP - HOMESTUCK - HP - HOMESTUCK

Hagrid watched as his unexpected guest settled down to sleep on the pile of blankets Hagrid had given him. They hadn't been in a pile at first, but the odd teen had pushed them into that formation until the blankets had been piled to his apparent approval. Hagrid couldn't see him at all now-he had buried himself in the blankets.

Guest taken care of, Hagrid lay down on his own bed. Karkat had been very odd, from the random pauses in speech, to rarely chewing his bites, and barely eating anything. Despite the fact that he had asked for food. It was very strange.

He pushed the thoughts out of his head. He needed to sleep now-he had a feeling it would be a big day tomorrow.

HP - HOMESTUCK - HP - HOMESTUCK

Karkat didn't sleep.

He had just been sleeping-it was a dream bubble that had gotten him into this mess. Well, that and he didn't know if there were dream bubbles here, and without soper...No, Karkat would not be sleeping anytime soon.

John, though, John had fallen asleep. He had dozed off shortly after eating. So Karkat was alone, awake, and generally tense. He had created himself a pile from the blankets, and that gave a bit of security, but he was still somewhere dangerous-he could feel it. His luck was shitty, so he needed to be on the lookout. He wasn't just looking after himself, after all.

He settled in the pile again. The blankets were scratchy. It was going to be a long night.

HP - HOMESTUCK - HP - HOMESTUCK

Karkat looked out the window.

"Holy hoofbeast-shit that is a big-ass imperial hive."

And it was. It was big, and gray, and absolutely towering, with tall turrets of varying thicknesses rising up from the great body of the structure. Karkat hadn't noticed it before-he had been too occupied with the shock of finding a giant person, and then getting food for John.

But, looking at this mountain of a hive, he was shocked that he had missed it. It was just so big. He had trouble looking at much for very long, though. Being nocturnal, his eyes weren't meant to take that much light. Though Earth's orbit-star was not nearly as harsh as Alternia's, being farther away, it still was too bright. Karkat had a sudden urge to yell at Strider for his shades. He wanted to get inside.

But going inside meant going inside that monster of a building. Where it looked like some sort of royalty might live. Karkat was tempted to ask John if this was normal for 'schools', but he didn't want to draw attention to himself-that, and John was still asleep. The fucking lazybulge.

Before Karkat had time to dwell on whether the sunlight or the hive was the better option, a movement from his middle caught his attention. It seemed that John had finally woken up.

"Good morning, Karkat!"

"How are you so gogdamn fucking cheery right now?"

"Huh? Is something wrong?" The human's voice was worried.

"What's fucking wrong is that you pink mammalian little shits are diurnal, and apparently have imperial hives as 'schools'."

"Wait, what? What's an 'imperial hive'?" John answered, completely ignoring the jab at his species.

"Oh, I forgot. Humans use highblood terms. It's a castle. A really big fucking castle."

"Wow! Well, no, schools aren't usually castles...except those snooty private schools. I hear that some of those are in castle-like buildings, and sometimes even…." Karkat tuned out of John's rambling. He turned away from the hut-hive's window and looked at the bed. The giant person was stirring. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to talk to John much longer.

"...and my school did have this epic gym, but otherwise it was not that great-"

"John. Shut your protein-chute. The giant guy is waking up."

"..Wait, he's a giant-!"

"Shh!"

Hagrid looked up at the odd 'shh'ing noise. It seemed the gray-skinned being was already awake. He climbed out of bed, and turned to the unknown creature. "So, hungry? The school will beh servin' breakfast soon. Leh's go." With that, Hagrid turned and walked out the door. He sincerely hoped that Karkat would just follow him. He didn't want to have to go back in and get him.

After a moment, the horned teenager creeped out of the door, shielding his eyes from the morning sunlight. Hagrid guessed, that paired with the dark skin and sensitivity to light, that his guest was probably nocturnal. What was this lad?